Supercentenarians

Monday, December 10, 2007

He was a Japanese supercentenarian and, according to Guinness World Records, became the person with the greatest authenticated age in the world after the death of Niwa Kawamoto, also from Japan. Assuming his claimed birth-date is correct, he would have attained an age of 120 years, older than any other recognized male, and be the second-longest lived human ever, second only to Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment. He also holds the record for the longest working career for a person, spanning 98 years. He was recorded as a six-year-old in Japan's first Census of 1871. His wife died at the age of 90. He drank shōchū (a Japanese alcoholic beverage distilled from barley), and took up smoking at age 70.[1] He began his career in 1872 goading draft animals at a sugar mill, and retired as a sugarcane farmer in 1970 at the age of 105. He attributed his long life to "God, Buddha and the Sun." He stood at 1.42 meters (four feet, eight inches) tall, weighed 42.6 kilograms (94 pounds) and lived through 71 Japanese Prime Ministers; his life spanned five Emperors of Japan from Komei Tenno to Showa Tenno and five nengo from Keio at the close of the Edo era to near the end of the Showa era.

He died of pneumonia after a brief hospitalization at 12:15 GMT, the same day as Jeanne Calment's 111th birthday. He was 120 years and 237 days old (if the 1865 birth year is correct), the last recognized surviving person of the 1860s, the only male to live at least 116 years and the longest holder of the "oldest living person" title.

Following his death, Mamie Eva Keith became the world's oldest person. For more than 20 years after his death every person with the title of the world's oldest living person was female until Emiliano Mercado del Toro became the world's oldest living person on December 11, 2006.

Izumi's stated birthdate is June 29, 1865, however as Japan did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until January 1, 1873 his age appears inflated by 12 days. One of his 120 years was in fact 12 days shorter: the year 1872. His date of birth June 29, 1865 would be July 11, 1865 in Gregorian countries. This assumes that his date of birth has not been otherwise adjusted as no mention of this anomaly is made in the source.

His age is disputed; it has been suggested that he was actually born fifteen years later and named after his older brother, who may have died young.

She was an American supercentenarian who became the oldest recorded person ever. Guinness World Records recognizes her as being born into slavery in December 1844 in Virginia, and to have died at age 114 years and 180 days in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Using this, an extrapolated birth date is December 27, 1844. Her original claimed year of birth, however, was 1840.

She is an American supercentenarian, who is currently the fourth-oldest living person in the world, since the November 14, 2007 death of American woman Bertha Fry, and the third-oldest living person in the United States. However, she does have the honor of being the current oldest person living in the U.S. state of California. Aside from her arthritis and her not being able to walk, Baines is very healthy and has never had a seriously sick day in her life. Born in Shellman, Georgia, she recalls that her first memory was that of being in a car ride to Canada. She later married Sam Conly at a "very young age" and had a daughter, Annablelle, who died of Typhoid fever age 18. Mrs. Baines currently lives at the West Adams convalescent center in Los Angeles. She lived on her own until she was 105. When asked what she credited to her longevity, she answered, "God. Ask him... I took good care of myself, the way he wanted me to." As of December 2007, aged 113, Baines is one of the 90 longest lived people ever.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

He was an American supercentenarian who was the oldest recognized living person from the death of fellow American Martha Graham on June 25, 1959 (apparently his 110th birthday) until his own death. If his birth year is correct, he was the last remaining person of the 1840s. However, in 2006, a 1930 Census entry found by Robert Young called this case into question. A James Henry Brett, Jr., also of Houston, was 65 years old in April 1930, suggesting a birthdate in 1864 instead of 1849. Brett was first included in the 1963 edition of the Guinness Book of Records, for the record of 'oldest person to undergo surgery'. He had a hip operation on November 7, 1960. This record has since been broken more than once including by Jeanne Calment, who had hip surgery at 114 years and 11 months in January 1990, and Bettie Wilson, who had a gallbladder operation at exactly 114 years in September 2005.